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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mortis ? If there is, it must have been 

 something like it, or the very thing itself, 

 which I enjoyed that day. No words can 

 possibly express the surprising desire which 

 I felt to sit down and enjoy my felicity — 

 and sleep. But my inexorable friends knew 

 that sleep meant death ; and though my 

 repeated appeals of ' Doucement, douce- 

 raent ! ' were plaintive enough, they were met 

 by redoubled efforts to force me onward, 

 even when ray own legs would not move 

 any longer. . . . During the sustained ef- 

 forts of the three men, I had but moment- 

 ary glimpses of consciousness. I remember 

 seeing two somethings, black, one on each 

 side, but very indistinct. These, of course, 

 were the friendly monks. The one over- 

 whelming idea that filled my mind then was 

 how to get to that sleep, that blissful eu- 

 thanasia which poets have sung about, but 

 which my companions were doing their best 

 to rob me of, just when I had got it within 

 my grasp." Hence it is concluded that 

 death from intense cold may at all events 

 be painless. 



Half a Century of Railway Work. — Mr. 



Edward Woods, President of the English 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, entered the 

 service of the Liverpool and Manchester 

 Railway Company more than fifty years ago. 

 At that time the so-called " fish-bellied " 

 rails were used, weighing thirty-five pounds 

 to the yard, and were laid in iron chairs sup- 

 ported on stone blocks. Such beds proved 

 too rigid, and were laid with heavier rails. 

 Then wooden sleepers, being more elastic, 

 were adopted instead of stone, and a wooden 

 wedge, instead of an iron one, for holding 

 the rail in the chair. The steel sleepers 

 now coming into vogue in place of wood are 

 so formed as to give great elasticity, and 

 avoid the blunder of a rigid road. The es- 

 sential characteristics of the locomotives, 

 though great improvements have been made 

 in them, have not been changed; but a 

 wonderful economy has been effected in the 

 consumption of coal. A larger traffic is now 

 performed with three thousand one hundred 

 tons of coke per annum than was then car- 

 ried on with twelve thousand six hundred 

 tons. The traction power of engines has 

 increased fivefold, and inclines which were 

 at one time considered too severe to be 



worked Vy locomotives are now easily sur- 

 mounted. The average of speed has been 

 increased considerably, but the maximum 

 not greatly. In all the accessory details of 

 railway work, such as signaling, switching, 

 braking, etc., there has been a great and 

 important advance. 



Forestry in Switzerland. — While by the 

 Constitution of 1874 the confederation has 

 the right of supervision, each canton of 

 Switzerland possesses in effect its own 

 scheme of forestry organization. Two sys- 

 tems are prevalent, each of which has its 

 advantages in certain circumstances. In 

 the central, southern, and eastern parts of 

 the federation, the territory of the cantons 

 is portioned into districts of from 17,500 to 

 30,000 acres each, with an inspector and a 

 number of trained foresters and keepers 

 chosen by the owners of the woods, and 

 paid by them. Each forester has about 

 3,000 acres under his care, and, under the 

 control of the inspector, carries out the pro- 

 cesses of cultivation, looks after the nurs- 

 eries, clears rides, and disposes of the tim- 

 ber cut down. In the western and less 

 rugged parts of the country, where the can- 

 tons have long possessed forest organiza- 

 tions, merely protective measures are sub- 

 ordinated to maintenance of a scientifically 

 trained official staff. Most of the cantonal 

 governments own forests which serve at 

 once as models for the other forest proprie- 

 tors and as an encouragement for the estab- 

 lishment of private staffs of keepers. In 

 these cantons the superior forester does 

 much that is left elsewhere to unskilled 

 hands. The superior foresters are every- 

 where nominated and paid by the state, 

 while the under-foresters are mostly selected 

 and paid by the forest-owners. In most 

 cantons forest administration is conducted 

 by a department under the rule of a mem- 

 ber of the government, assisted by a chief 

 forester. The pay in all grades of the serv- 

 ice is small. 



Bean-Card. — Tofu is a curd manufact- 

 ured in Japan from beans, and, according to 

 the " Journal of the Society of Arts," " ap- 

 proaches more nearly in its composition 

 to animal food than any other vegetable 

 known." It contains about one fifth of its 



